Back from Yosemite

I'm back from Yosemite, and boy did I miss civilization. Yosemite is jaw droppingly beautiful, but for someone who does not stay in very good hiking shape, it was no small feat to get to all of those vista points. It wasn't so much the uphill that did me in as it was the downhill. Your toes and knees just buckle under the constant pressure of walking downhill if you are not used to it. Also I realized that I'm not really the camping type. We stayed in a cabin-like structure with 3 permanent walls and one tent wall. And one day when we were gone, a squirrel came in and ate my crossword puzzle. Seriously. There was no food to get (that's locked up in the bear lockers), just a newspaper sitting on my bed, and this stupid squirrel with his dirty little feet ran all over our beds leaving chewed up bits of my crossword everywhere.

But despite all of the pain and annoyances, I would not trade the experience. You cannot beat driving away to sunrise views like these. Looking down into a valley wedged between gigantic granite peaks as the sun begins to spill over it makes you feel like you're looking upon a little piece of perfection hidden on Earth. (Just ignore the tour bus unloading 60 or so Japanese visitors right next to you.)